The weather in California has really not cooperated with the California Growers. For the past few weeks we have seen a lot a rain, followed by unprecedented cold weather. Daytime temperatures have been in the low 60”s but the night time temperatures have been in the low 30’s and sometimes below. These low night Temperatures have stalled everything from Protea to Snapdragons. Cold Temperatures like this are expected more towards mid to late December; unfortunately they have begun in November this year. This looks to be a very challenging time for the core California products for Christmas: Snapdragons, Delphinium, Larkspur and Stock.
Every year in the month of December we are faced with two issues that create Stock shortages.
The first problem is that growers in Lompoc all start to transition from Lompoc to an area they refer to as the desert. The desert has a warmer climate that is more stock friendly. To top things off this year, it appears the desert is going to be later than expected. With the crop ending in Lompoc and not yet beginning in the Desert we are seeing low volumes being offered in the Market.
The second problem is the Weather. This year the Weather has been extremely cold. The cold temperature has done two things. First, It stalls the plant, causing a very small harvest, resulting in limited supply. Second, the flowers have to be harvested as soon as they open or risk freezing at night. This is the reason for the smaller head size we are seeing and always experience this time of the year.
With such a limited supply the growers have seized the opportunity to raise their prices. Please keep this in mind when estimating your weddings, events or daily needs. White and purple are affected the most, because they are such high demand colors.
